


Sugar and Spice

by stevita



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adultery, Belly Kink, F/M, Weight Gain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25565224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stevita/pseuds/stevita
Summary: When Melody Lam is dumped and kicked out of her apartment, she goes to stay with her supermodel sister, Mattie. But she soon finds herself falling for Mattie's fat boyfriend. Meanwhile, Mattie is not the perfect angel she appears to be for the press, and Melody finds herself in a difficult position...Prequel to Served.
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

Rodney McGowan had to be at work by eight this morning, so at seven sharp, his girlfriend Mattie Lam woke him up with breakfast in bed: pancakes stacked at least ten high, he was still too sleepy to count, plus eggs, hash browns, a glass of milk, and a side of bacon the size of his head.  
Mattie was sitting up by the head of the bed, fork in hand, holding a bite of eggs to his lips. “Good morning, sunshine! Open wide, baby…”  
He accepted the forkful and sat up in bed. “This is really good, Mattie...a little heavy fare for so early in the morning though…”  
“Nonsense!” Mattie chimed. “Alma slaved away this morning, and I refuse to let her hard work go to waste!”  
He wasn’t feeling up to finishing a whole stack of pancakes, but he’d hate to disappoint Mattie…  
She was carving up another bite for him when her phone rang on the dresser. She glanced at the number and said, “Hold on, I have to take this.”  
As she picked up the phone, Rodney tried not to eavesdrop, but he caught bits and pieces.  
“Where have you been? It’s been too long,” Mattie said into the receiver. “Uh huh...uh huh...uh oh. He did what?! Yeah, absolutely, I have room for you here.”  
It’s only until I find my own lease. I’ll be out of your hair in a jiffy, he overheard the other voice on the line say.  
“Nonsense. You stay as long as you like. When can you come by to move in?”  
I work a double today, but I'll come over right after I'm off! Thank you so much, Mattie, you're the best for doing this!  
Mattie hung up. “Hurry up, dear, your breakfast is getting cold,” she said.  
She might not have even told Rodney who was on the phone unless he asked, “Who was that on the phone?”  
“That was my sister, Melody,” said Mattie.  
“Sister?”  
“Yes, she’ll be staying with us for a little while. Her boyfriend just broke up with her and she’s without a place to stay, so I’ve opened the guest room to her. She’s a little plebeian, but she is my sister, so do be civil to her while she’s with us.”  
“And since when am I not civil?”  
“Finish your breakfast, baby. I imagine you have a tough work day ahead of you!”  
***  
Melody Lam was at the end of her rope.  
The other night, things had escalated to a peak with Chad. They had been arguing, as they'd been doing more and more frequently these days, especially when she was drunk and he was high. This time, it was about his job. He hated working at the Colonial Club--Melody knew firsthand that that wasn't a great gig. It was where they'd met; they were both waiting tables when they'd hit it off. But the customers were uppity and the manager was a slavedriver, and within a couple of months, she'd found herself a better place and put in her two weeks. Now, four years later, he was still clocking in at the same miserable establishment, but when she offered to help him job-hunt, he'd accused her of putting pressure on him. As much as he hated it at the club, the thing he hated most was change.  
But that didn't stop him from throwing all their years together out the window by declaring, If you have such a problem with my job, maybe you should find another boyfriend and solve both of our problems!  
She'd screamed in tears that maybe she would, and he'd told her where she might find the door. The end of that night had found her in a sleazy trucker bar, and, as many Long Island iced teas as she threw back, she didn't sleep with any truckers. She supposed she'd been holding out hope that in the morning, all of this would blow over like it always did.  
But in the morning, after she'd bummed a ride and a night on the couch from a friend from work, she arrived home to find all of her stuff packed in boxes in the living space.  
She was out one boyfriend and one apartment, and last night, she'd slept in her van.  
Thank God that would end tonight.  
Thank God for the graciousness of Matilda Lam.  
Graciousness…that's one word Melody never expected to be able to use in the same sentence as she mentioned her sister. Historically, the Lam sisters had never gotten along too well. Their mother had been one of those pageant moms, dolling them up and pitting them against other girls their age on the stage…and against each other at home.  
In a house where the worst thing you could possibly do was gain a pound, Melody took comfort in small, secret rebellions--a skipped workout here, a snuck candy bar there. Mattie, on the other hand, adhered strictly enough for the both of them to Mother's rules. Once, Melody had offered to split a cookie with her that she'd bought out of a vending machine. Mattie had thrown it back in her face and accused her of sabotage. Needless to say, that was the last time Melody had ever tried to share her sweets with her sister. Melody had been twelve; Mattie, ten.  
After graduation, Melody stopped competing in pageants, fell off the family's radar, and started working in a restaurant. She watched from the sidelines as Mattie scored a modeling contract and skyrocketed to fame. She got in touch with Mattie once, but found her sister impossible to talk to, unless the subject matter was the latest diet trend. They hadn't spoken since. Melody had been twenty-three.  
Now she was twenty-six and waiting on the doorstep of Mattie's penthouse suite.  
She knocked and waited. She didn't know what to expect when Mattie opened the door. It had been so long since they'd spoken…she supposed she had thought Mattie would be alone. She had. always been a fiercely independent person, very my-way-or-the-highway. Yet, when the door flew open, there was Mattie, stunning as ever in her robe with her golden-blonde hair flowing halfway down her back, smiling bright, bouncing on the balls of her feet…and accompanied by a man.  
He was sitting on the couch in a tight white T-shirt, closing up an empty pizza box that lay on the coffee table. For a minute, Melody was breathtaken, and she tried not to stare for too long. He was cute--dark hair, pretty face, round cheeks, easily pushing three hundred pounds. Right up Melody's alley, really.  
For a couple of years now, she'd been active online in a fetish subculture called feederism. She'd always been excited by the sight of men eating, indulging, and putting on weight--after some soul-searching, not to mention Google searching, she had come to suppose that growing up in a household that was so restrictive when it came to food, she'd developed an instinct to feed her men as a means to express her affection. Half the reason she worked in the restaurant industry was so that she could watch men eat and get her secret jollies. Chad was a bigger guy, and he knew about her fetish, but it was never his thing, so she'd never pushed the matter. The thought had never occurred to her that her sister might have developed the same kink…  
"MEL!" Mattie squealed, jumping Melody with a hug and snapping her out of her thoughts. "Jesus, it's been AGES! Rodney, come over here and meet my sister Melody, won't you?"  
Mattie took a step back, and over her shoulder, Melody could see Rodney struggling to heave himself off the couch. She had to wonder if he had just finished that pizza before she walked in the door.  
"Melody, I've told you about my boyfriend, Rodney, right?"  
"Uh…no," said Melody, a little dumbfounded as Rodney went to shake her hand. "Regardless, it's a pleasure to meet you…"  
"Rod! Get dressed," said Mattie. "Melody's had a rough time lately and in order to welcome her into our home, we're taking her out for a late dinner, all my treat."  
"Or, maybe we can do dinner tomorrow?" he suggested. "It's getting late, and we did just get pizza…"  
"Nonsense!" said Mattie, with a pointed look at her boyfriend.  
“We don’t have to go right this second,” Melody tried to insist, but Mattie was having none of it.  
"She is my sister, and I haven't seen her in over three years. We are taking her to dinner, and I won't hear another word about it. Now give me a minute to change!" Mattie didn’t acknowledge Melody once over the course of that sentence. Weird, thought Melody, but Mattie had always been pretty distant, and Melody was reluctant to ask too many questions when she was lucky to have a warm bed to sleep in tonight. That and some eye candy...even if she couldn’t touch him.  
Mattie turned on her heel and disappeared down the hall. Rodney tried to conceal the little groan he let out and followed her back to the bedroom, and Melody pretended not to notice the little once-over he gave her before he left, but once his back was turned, she grinned and bit her lip.  
***  
Mattie took them all to an upscale Italian restaurant on the edge of downtown. She had put on a sequined off-the-shoulder dress that made her the center of attention; he'd barely been able to find a button-down shirt that closed. Rodney felt apprehensive and helpless--Mattie had already managed to cram plenty down his throat that day, but he knew he couldn't put up much resistance in public if he didn't want to cause a scene. Imagine if the paparazzi showed up? Trying to put up a fight against Mattie Lam in front of her adoring press was like asking for demons.  
Melody was wearing the black jeans and black button-down she'd arrived to the penthouse in, and when the party was seated, the hostess unfolded her napkin for her and asked, "Ma'am, would you like a darker linen to go with your darker attire?"  
"I…um…that's alright, this one is fine. But thank you for offering!" Melody stammered. As the hostess walked away, she looked at each of the others and mouthed, Fancy!  
Soon, the waitress arrived, and Mattie smirked that all-too-familiar smirk that meant, and now, the fun begins. She ordered an appetizer sampler for the table to start. "And for your entrees?" asked the waitress, pad and pen in hand.  
"The gentleman's going to have the spaghetti Bolognese, and I think I'll just snack on the sampler and drink. Vodka soda, if you will, and keep them coming. Mel?"  
Melody read over the menu for a couple of seconds until she finally decided: "May I have a glass of your house red wine, and the hanger steak for my entrée? But instead of the mash can I please have fries?"  
"Absolutely."  
"Oh! And put me down for a double shot of rum," said Rodney. "And keep those coming, too."  
"Thank you so much, Mattie, for dinner, and for letting me stay with you," said Melody as they waited for their drinks to come. "As I said on the phone, I’ll be out of your hair in a few days tops."  
"Nonsense! Mel, it's like I said on the phone--you're welcome to anything in my home. I'm just happy to catch up after all these years. Oh, here are our drinks--cheers!"  
Mattie's sister looked a little older than Mattie, but not by much. She wasn't chubby, but she wasn't super skinny like Mattie, either. She had small breasts, full cheeks, and the slightest little tummy pooch when she sat down, but she didn't seem to mind it. Her blonde hair was short and she wore smart rectangular spectacles, but only when she was reading the menu--otherwise, she set them aside. Every time the waitress swung by the table, she ordered another glass of red wine, and every time she finished a glass of wine, she would step outside for a cigarette before returning to her meal. Whenever she stepped out, Mattie would take the opportunity to roll some pasta onto Rodney's fork and insist he take another bite. "Come on, you just have a little more to go…better you get it all down before my sister comes back. She's probably disgusted with you. God, aren't you lucky? I'm the only one who could love you like this. I'm the only one who'll ever feed you and indulge you like this."  
Melody was down to her last few fries when she started to actually make conversation. "Sorry guys, I kind of inhaled that…I was really hungry. Work was crazy and I didn't have time to eat. Anyway, Rodney, what is it you do?"  
He looked up at her, cheeks reddening a bit--it had been a while since a woman had made any sincere conversation with him, and it made his heart beat a little faster. He knew nothing could happen--she was his girlfriend's sister--but regardless, he at least owed her an answer.  
"I work for a telecom company, I operate phone switches," he explained. "I met Mattie at a conference. I was there with my company, standing in for my boss when he was sick; she was representing an energy drink."  
"That's sweet," said Melody. "I don't think I've ever seen Mattie so cheerful."  
"This one," said Mattie, "gives me reason to smile."  
"That's wonderful."  
"So, what do you do, Melody?" asked Rodney.  
"Baby, why don't you finish your spaghetti? It's getting cold," Mattie interjected, and Rodney gave her a little nod and followed through. He wasn't sure how much longer his shirt would hold up, but even if it burst open at the table, it would be nothing compared to the consequences of disappointing Mattie.  
While he was chewing, Melody said, "I bartend at Patricia's…it's a good job, I make decent money. Not like Mattie here, but it's a living."  
"What kind of food do they have?" asked Mattie.  
"Southern comfort, mostly. Full bar," said Melody.  
"We must go sometime, don't you think, Rod?"  
"Definitely," he deferred, his mouth still half-full.  
"Rod, darling, do you want the rest of this?" asked Mattie, pushing what remained of the sampler platter in his direction. By this point, he was not only uncomfortably stuffed, but full-swing drunk. He gagged at the thought of eating another bite, but he knew with a woman like Mattie, his protests would be useless…  
That's when Melody pulled the plate towards herself and said, "Actually, I am still kind of hungry. Rod, do you mind?"  
"No, not at all, Melody, help yourself."  
While she went to town, the waitress swung by with another round of drinks. Rodney downed his double rum and began to feel like things weren't sitting too well in his stomach. "Excuse me, ladies…men's room, I'll be right back," he said, and bolted.  
Minutes later, he was on his knees over the toilet, when a knock came at the door. "Service?"said a woman's voice, but he recognized it as Melody's.  
"Don't come in, I'm kind of a mess," he choked, but Melody came in anyway.  
"Sorry…I just noticed you'd been in there for quite a while," she said.  
He hadn't locked the stall, so she was able to let herself in. "Oh my goodness! Are you okay?"  
"I…I guess I overdid it," he choked.  
Must not say too much. Must not badmouth Mattie.  
"It's okay, here." Melody knelt down next to him and helped him up. "Everybody drinks too much at some point in their life. I see it at the bar all the time. Do you need to vomit again?"  
"No, I think I got all the bad out."  
"Good. Let's get you cleaned up."  
She led him to the sink and held a handful of water to his lips. He took it in and spat it out, and she offered him another drink of water, and he swallowed. For a minute, they stayed there together in the bathroom, she supporting him, running gentle fingers through his hair and encouraging him in her own tipsy way to feel better. Then finally, he said, "We should probably get back to our table. And can you, uh, not tell Mattie about this?"  
She shrugged, drew a pair of fingers across her lips in a zipper gesture, and said, "Steel trap."  
Rodney beat Melody back to the table--she returned a few minutes later with a glass of wine she'd bought from the bar and downed it in about two gulps. "Are we ready to go, or what?" she asked, and Rodney was relieved as all Hell when Mattie conceded to take them all home in her limo instead of trying to push dessert.  
"I have a big photoshoot in the morning, my flight leaves at six," she was telling Rodney and Melody as they all returned to the penthouse. "I'll probably be gone before the two of you awake, so feel free to use the space to your leisure. Melody, feel free to anything in the liquor cabinet. The guest room is down the hall to your left, and, Rodney, come with me, love."  
"Of course, darling," he said, faking enthusiasm the best he could. But then he turned back to glance at Melody and said, "Pleasure meeting you!" And that time, he wasn't faking anything at all.  
***  
Melody fell into a troubled sleep that night. She awoke several times, and she never could remember what she'd dreamt of, but every time, there was this disturbed feeling she couldn't quite shake. She fought sleep, but the wine put her back under each time.  
At around four in the morning, she dragged herself out of her room and accepted Mattie's invitation to the liquor cabinet. She took three shots of vodka to calm her nerves, stumbled back to bed, and by the time she woke up for real, it was eight in the morning, and Mattie was already on a plane to oh, wherever, she'd forgotten to ask.  
She couldn't put her finger on why she'd slept so fitfully. Her Chad problems were over. Mattie had welcomed her in with open arms and even taken her to dinner. She thought it was a little weird that Rodney acquiesced to everything Mattie said like a trained dog, but then, Mattie was a famous supermodel. With looks, money, and success like that, what man wouldn't worship the ground she walked on?  
Maybe you're just feeling guilty about eye-fucking your sister's boyfriend all of last night, said a tiny voice in her head. She tried to convince herself that that wasn't the case, but just as she walked into the kitchen for breakfast, she nearly collided with Rodney, and oh god, he looked yummy in his tight white tee and sweatpants, hair tousled from sleep…  
What had she come in here for again? Oh, right. Breakfast.  
"Sorry, Rod, I thought you'd be at work…" He worked with phone switches, didn't he mention? Wasn't that a nine-to-five deal?  
"Nah, it's Saturday. And good thing, I'm hungover as shit today."  
"No kidding. You were losing it pretty bad at the restaurant last night," she said. "Well, you know what they say in the bar industry--you can't be hungover if you're still drunk." She pulled the handle of vodka from Mattie's freezer. "Huh. Belvedere," she read off. She hadn't gotten to take a glance at the label last night, but now that she did… "My sister has excellent taste."  
She realized too late what she'd said and her face reddened several shades.  
For his part, Rodney didn't seem to notice. "Nah, I shouldn't."  
"Suit yourself." She poured herself a shot and downed it--she was feeling pretty hungover as well.  
She was pouring her second shot when Rodney decided to grab a glass and join her. "I can't let you drink alone, now, can I?"  
"You're too sweet." She started going through Mattie's cabinets, only to find them empty. "Are you kidding me? Does Mattie not have anything for breakfast? What does she eat?"  
"This isn't like her, she usually has something around…ah, there it is!" said Rodney, glancing over the counter into the breakfast nook. "Looks like she ordered in before she left."  
On the breakfast table was a square paper box, about two feet by one. "Oh, god, I hope it's donuts! I'm famished!" said Melody, and trotted across the tile floor to pop the box open. Inside were, indeed, a dozen assorted donuts, along with a note. "Where the fuck's my reading glasses? she muttered to herself. She must have left them in the guest room. She was able to make out the text when she squinted, though: Rod--I expect them all finished before the pizza arrives. xoxo Mattie  
Melody blinked. So, her sister was one of these dominant feeders, huh?  
Rodney came up behind her, saw the note, and snatched it out of her hand, flushed with embarrassment. "Mattie and I…uh…we have…a bit of an unusual…"  
"Hey, it's none of my business," said Melody.  
If only he knew the things she pleasured herself to in the dark.  
For a moment, she was torn between her lust for this gorgeous man and her very urgent need to get her breakfast on. She glanced from his face to the contents of the box, stammered for a moment, and finally asked, "How hungry are you? Because Mattie's instructions were pretty vague. She just said she wanted them finished, and I know she addressed that to you, but if I have one or two, it probably won't be a big deal, right? If you don't mind?"  
"Oh, please, help yourself."  
Melody picked herself out a jelly donut and started pulling it in half so she could eat the center first. It was delicious, and still warm. "So I know I just said it was none of my business, but are you, like, Mattie's feedee?"  
He stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded.  
"How do you know about--?"  
"Dude. I'm active in the community," said Melody. "Funny, though, never thought Mattie would be, too. I always felt like she and I were so different. Polar opposites, really." She polished off her donut in the time it took Rodney to finish half of one and poured herself another shot. "So is that why you didn't want her to know you puked at the restaurant? Just couldn't stand the thought of disappointing her?"  
"Something like that, yeah. Hey, can I have another shot, too?"  
"Sure, it's your girlfriend's vodka. Which I guess means it's your vodka, too. So how long have you and Mattie--?"  
"About eight months."  
"And is it weird? Putting on weight for her when she has to stay skinny for her job?"  
This time, he didn't give her an answer. "So, Mattie mentioned that you just went through a bad breakup recently. I notice that didn't come up at dinner. I don't mean to pry…"  
Melody shrugged and waved him off. "Not like I'm not prying. Anyway, yeah, I was head over heels for this waiter I worked with forever ago at the Colonial Club, but he just never felt the same way. Treated me like his little banquet waitress, really. Used to send me out to buy his shit when he was too stoned to drive…hey, can I smoke in here?"  
"Sure, we have a personal chef, name's Alma...she's off today, but whenever she's here she smokes in the kitchen constantly."  
A personal chef! Wow, thought Melody, Mattie and her man were really living the high life.  
As Melody was lighting up her cigarette, Rodney said, "Anyway, sucks about that guy. Any man who takes advantage of a lady doesn't deserve to call himself a man at all."  
He finished his second donut while Melody was starting on her third.  
"You're so sweet," said Melody. She had another shot, then one more as an afterthought.  
Chad had always gotten on her case about the drinking. She used to drink reasonably, but then she started bartending and routinely got hammered on the clock, coming home drunk every night. It was self-destructive, she knew. But he'd be stoned, so who was he to talk?  
"And I mean, he used to be considerate, when we first met," she went on. "But fast forward a few years and whenever we go out, I'm picking up the tab for everything, driving all over the city to wait on him hand and foot, and do I ever get a thank you? No, he just criticizes me."  
One more shot.  
"Until one day, it all blew up."  
"I'm serious! If you were my girl, I'd give you anything you asked."  
"Again--too sweet. I'd never ask much. A warm bed at night and date night on Tuesdays…maybe I'd make you fix my computer," she joked.  
"Aww, Melody, you sell yourself short."  
"I don't know how Mattie managed to win you over, but she is seriously one lucky broad," said Melody.  
"Funny, and people always tell me I'm the lucky one."  
"Fuck people! People don't know shit," she snapped, and then, somehow, in the haze of conversation and alcohol, her lips ended up on his. Her hands slipped up his shirt to give his love handles a squeeze--God, he was just so soft and lovely under her fingertips. She pulled back and looked up at him, eyes blown with lust. "Couch?" she asked.  
"Couch," he agreed.  
Her back had barely touched the leather before she felt his lips crash against hers. She responded, tongue searching for purchase, hands clinging to his hips, his back, any bit of softness she could get a grip on. God, he was so fucking sexy. She relished the feeling of his weight on top of her as he ground against her. "Flip over, baby," she told him, and once she was on top, she yanked his pants down and sucked him until he was begging her to find a condom. She must have torn the apartment apart before she found one, stumbling and squinting all the while, but after that, she rode him hard and fast and thoughtlessly. She came twice on top of him, and then rolled him back on top of her, craving that warm, weighed-down, pressed-to-the-cushions feeling. Nails dug into his sides, she came again, and again, and again, until the sun was high in the sky.  
About thirty minutes later, the shock set in. Here she was, in her sister's apartment, drunk on her sister's liquor, half-naked with her sister's feedee. What had she done? Mattie had been nothing but accommodating to her, but she was pretty sure when Mattie told her she was welcome to anything in her home, that hadn't included sleeping with her boyfriend. She'd fucked up, and it was only day one.  
"Wow," said Rodney, a little out of breath, "that was--"  
"Wrong. Completely wrong."  
"Totally wrong, I agree. But also amazing."  
Melody didn't know what had gotten into her…when she'd turned up on her sister's doorstep, she'd never expected to be confronted with this irresistibly sexy man, and she'd let her post-heartbreak desires get away with her, aided along by too much alcohol too early in the morning.  
She knew she couldn't let it happen again.  
But Rodney was right--that had been amazing.  
"Mattie never told me she had a boyfriend," she said.  
"She never told me she had a sister."  
About then was when she finally found her glasses, on the coffee table about an arm’s length away.


	2. Chapter 2

Work was a total locker room. There was one woman working in his whole department; a little blue-haired gamer chick fresh out of college named Wanda, but she rarely left her cubicle unless she ran out of Red Bull, so Rodney didn’t see much of her.   
Since he’d started dating Mattie, the guys at the office making a point of bringing up his relationship whenever the chance occurred. He hadn’t gone a day without a coworker saying, Man, I still can’t believe you scored such a hot girlfriend, or something of the like. In the beginning, it was exciting, being the subject of envy around the office. But as his relationship with Mattie took darker and darker twists and turns, he learned to just laugh and smile through his coworkers’ comments and pretend he didn’t dread being reminded her in his one safe space away from her.   
Come Monday, Rodney’s head was still buzzing with thoughts of Melody. How she touched his soft parts passionately, reverently; how she perked up and smiled whenever he entered the room, making him feel instantly desired and important and listened to. Her cute little habits. Her glasses, and how self-conscious she was about them. Her perfume. It smelled like pears.   
As he powered up his desktop, Mike from Software Development poked his head into his cubicle and said, “I noticed someone walked in looking way too excited for eight hours of typing and switchboards. Mattie get a little horny this morning?”  
“Life’s been...uh...life’s been good in general,” said Rodney, unable to tamp down his grin.   
“Man, you lucky bastard. If I had access to a piece of tail like that! Not that I’d ever, you know, try anything. You know me, Rod. Mattie’s your girl, and I respect that. But damn, if only she had a sister!”   
“Actually,” said Rodney, “she does have one sister.”   
Or maybe she had two. After all, she’d never mentioned Melody before. Hell, for all he knew, she could have twenty-someodd ex-lovers locked in a self-storage unit somewhere, slowly running out of oxygen…   
Okay, Rod, let’s get off that image.  
“Yeah, name’s Melody, she’s a bartender.”   
“Is she hot?”  
“Gorgeous.”  
“Well, is she single?”   
“She just broke up with her boyfriend, but I don’t know, man, I heard there’s some new guy in the picture now.”  
Of course, he wasn’t about to confess to his tryst with his girlfriend’s sister. If the press caught wind, they’d have a field day. But it was fun to have a secret little brag without actually admitting anything.   
Mike shook his head, smirked, and said, “Well listen, man, if things don’t work out with this new guy, you just let me know!”   
***  
Mattie was gone for another few days, during which Rodney caught Melody stealing glances at him, eyes blown with lust, whenever they were in the same room, but she did not make a move. Even still, having her eyes on him was a thrill in its own right. It had been a long time since Mattie had looked at him that way.  
What Melody had said about her ex-boyfriend had resonated with him. Mattie used to make him feel special, too.   
Before he met Mattie, he used to chat with feeder girls online, sometimes on company time--he was good at covering his tracks, and what his boss didn’t know, couldn’t get him fired. He would order takeout to the office and send the girls pictures of the empty containers, shots of his jeans straining against his full belly. He’d get hard when they talked about masturbating, not that he could do anything about it at work--the ceiling cameras couldn’t make out his computer screen, but they’d capture his junk if he whipped it out.   
But every time he felt like he really had something with one of the girls he met online, she wouldn’t have the time or money to fly out and meet in person, or she’d start dating a guy from her own hometown, or she’d drop off the map entirely. For a while, he thought he’d never find a girl who would satisfy all his sexual needs. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, he’d thought at the time. He could always find a civilian girl to fall in love with. Someone funny and smart who didn’t care about looks. He could hide his fetishes and keep a lock screen on his laptop and phone.   
Then, he and Mattie had locked eyes that night at the conference, and everything after that happened in fast-forward. After a couple drinks at the bar, she'd practically forced entry into his hotel room. She’d stripped naked for him and fucked him so intensely, it was like the two of them had fused into one. Later on, as they lay in bed panting, she crooned into his ear about the lavish, delicious breakfast she intended to buy him in the morning. She promised to sweep him away to her penthouse, where he’d enjoy every gourmet indulgence his heart desired, want for nothing, and spend all his nights having mind-blowing, earth-shattering sex. He'd fallen under her spell, dumbfounded that such a gorgeous woman could not only fall from the sky into his life and also be into feederism. That first night, he felt like the luckiest guy alive…  
But Mattie had shown her true colors since then. After luring him in with honey, she'd proceeded to pour on the vinegar. Nowadays, she got her rocks off by humiliating him. She'd make him eat until he was dizzy, sometimes by way of insistence, other times with a funnel and tube, and in the same breath, laugh at him and spit acid.  
And he'd stuck by her all these months for some insane reason. He didn't want to think it was because of the money, he made his own money.   
But Mattie was a master of instilling hopelessness. She’d tease him about all the weight he’d put on for her, about how lucky it was for him that she was around, because he didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell with any normal girl. Usually she did it in public. She whispered on the sly things like, Look at that woman. She’s staring at you. She can’t believe you’re here with me, can’t you see it in her face? Other times, she’d humiliate him right in the middle of sex. And after hearing it so often, it was easy for him to start believing that Mattie Lam was all he would ever have.   
But then, Melody had walked into the picture, and for the first time in far too long, she made him feel desired. Safe. Himself.  
The day she took him to bed--well, couch--she worked the night shift, and when she got back, she told him she was going out for a drink and a snack and asked if he'd like to accompany her. He wasn't used to being asked out nicely--Mattie usually dealt him his marching orders and he followed them to the letter. So he went with her. They each had a couple drinks and split an appetizer--she finished most of it; he was still full from the remaining donuts, which he'd finished while Melody was taking a pre-work nap in the next room earlier.  
Couldn't disappoint Mattie…  
Nothing happened at the bar besides eating and drinking, and nothing happened at the penthouse besides sleeping--Rodney in the master suite, Melody in the guest room--but there were still her eyes.  
***  
Melody had slept with her sister’s boyfriend; there was no undoing that damage. But she was trying her hardest not to fall for him. If she did that, there would be no going back.   
He was making it difficult, though.   
It was the little things that endeared her. Like how he left a glass of water for her on the end-table outside her room the morning after she’d been drinking.   
Or how after she mentioned in conversation that her favorite drink was lambic framboise, he had a bottle chilling in the fridge for her when she got home from work.   
Or how he asked her curious questions about her job and was happy to answer any questions about what it was like to work in the exciting world of computers and phones. (He was skilled at his position, but had a little trouble explaining the technological aspect of the job in layman’s terms to his higher-ups. He shared a break room with people who were mostly amicable, but there was this one Vietnamese lady who worked in software development who made no secret of the fact that she looked down on the less advanced technicians in his department. His boss was mostly chill, but had this neurotic pet-peeve about employees having trash on their desks. Her job could get monotonous. If she didn’t enjoy setting food in front of people so much, it would’ve been a drag some nights. But once in a while she would get a bar guest who was particularly entertaining. Just last week she’d waited on a woman who worked as an inventory stocker in a hospital, who’d informed her that every story you hear about some guy rushed to the emergency room to get a cucumber, a light bulb, a Coke bottle, whatever, extracted from his butthole, was one-hundred percent, absolutely true. Her boss favored her, but only because he had an obvious crush on her. He was too skinny for her taste, but she would humor him by hanging out with him outside of work. Only to score free drinks, though, and she never put out.)  
Or how he offered to walk with her to the corner store so she could buy cigarettes and a Red Bull, even though she didn’t ask him to.   
“So, stop me if this is an inappropriate question, but how’d you first get into feederism?” asked Melody between sips of her drink as they made their way back. “Like, were you always a big guy, or…”   
“Actually, no,” he said. “My family never had a lot of money. I’d see the kids at public school ordering double for lunch and putting away more food than my parents could afford to put on my plate in a week, and I’d think, man, what I wouldn’t do to be that guy. Probably when I hit puberty was when it turned into a sexual thing. Then I got a scholarship to college, I was pretty math-science smart.”  
“I was always more arts-history, myself,” said Melody. “But go on?”  
“Yeah, my college had a meal plan included in the tuition and one of those buffet-style cafeterias, and I was able to actually act on my fantasies. Put on about fifty pounds in my freshman year, a hundred and fifty by the end of all four.”   
Melody bit her lip. She sipped her energy drink. She was getting wet just thinking about him collapsing in a dorm room bunk bed after a long day of classes, full and satisfied, rubbing his belly and letting out a sigh of contentment, his clothes getting tighter every day…  
If only she’d gone to college. Maybe then she’d have been able to hit on him at parties before Mattie came into the picture.   
“Fast-forward a few years and I met Mattie…” An awkward silence passed, which he was the one to finally break. “And you?”   
“I...um…” She blushed. Snap out of it, Melody, where’s your head? “My mom ran a pretty tight ship. She was a modeling industry reject and she wanted me and Mattie to succeed. She had us on a very strict diet and exercise regimen...I always resented her for it.”  
“And your dad?”  
“He died a bit before Mattie was born. It was related to meth. I barely remember him, I just have some flashes of memory.”   
“Mattie never told me all of that,” he said. Then, “I’m sorry.”   
“Me too...but he’s with God now. Anyway, I guess I just felt like my mom didn’t love me?”   
“That’s...that’s rough.”   
“And I got it in my head that if you love someone, you feed them.” She laughed. “I’d see chubby guys in my grade and get all warm and tingly inside. Looking back, maybe in the back of my mind I was thinking, wow, somebody loves him. And without fail, whenever I would have a crush on a boy, the first thing I’d do was buy him candy. I know that probably sounds weird…” She locked her fingers together and stretched her arms, palms out, just fiddling.   
“It’s not weird.”   
They arrived at their building and caught the elevator up to the top floor. While they were waiting for the doors to open, Rodney suddenly wrapped Melody up in a tight, warm hug. “Sounds like your mom sucks. But you’re a really nice girl, Melody Lam. You’re doing good.”  
It was all she could do not to cry.   
How could she resist a man like this?   
***  
When Mattie returned, Alma was called in to prepare a welcome-home dinner. Melody took to Alma instantly. She was a chubby, energetic little woman who hustled around the kitchen with meticulous efficiency. While she was preparing dinner, Melody made frequent stops through the kitchen to fetch more wine for Rod, Mattie, and herself, or to take smokebreaks with the chef while making smalltalk in Spanish--Alma's rapid, Melody's broken. When dinner was almost ready, Alma shooed Melody out of the kitchen so as not to spoil the surprise.  
At last, dinner was served--Alma set down a huge ribeye with extra mashed potatoes and extra gravy for Rodney and some kind of arugula salad for each of the ladies. Melody picked at her salad and tried to look interested, but her disappointment must have shown on her face, because Alma came back over to her and asked, "Everything okay, Miss?"  
"Oh, this looks wonderful," Melody lied. "But I am very hungry and I was hoping for something a little more substantial."  
"Anything you want, I'll go make. What would you like, Miss Melody?"  
Melody smiled. "Do you know how to make chicken fried steak?"  
"Ah, yes!"  
Melody perked up. "Then I'll have that, please! And can I have a side of fries, too, and a little bit of gravy on the side? Thank you so much!"  
When Alma left the room, Mattie rolled her eyes and said, "You're way too polite to the help." Then, to Rodney, "Come on, love, your dinner's getting cold…" She began to lift a hefty bite of mashed potatoes to his mouth, and Melody promptly disappeared from the room.  
She was next seen letting herself into the kitchen while Alma slaved away. "You know, I think I'll just eat in here, Alma," she said. "We can have dinner together, give the two lovebirds their privacy, you know?" As willing as Mattie had seemed to proceed with her little stuffing session in front of her sister, it was too weird for Melody, especially considering what she and Rodney had done together.  
She popped open another bottle of wine, poured a glass, and set it down on the counter next to where Alma was prepping. "And there's no reason you have to do that without a drink in your hand, you know. Everyone else in the house has already started."  
"Oh, no. I'm not allowed to get into Miss Mattie's wine…"  
Melody smirked. "Well, today, Miss Melody says different."  
Alma put the finishing touches on Melody's entrée, fired up a couple of quesadillas, and they had dinner family-style over the island countertop, laughing and sipping wine--Melody attentively kept Alma's glass full and sipped from the bottle herself. "Wow. Oh my god, Alma, just wow," she slurred between fries, "this is so good. I don't get how Mattie's so skinny, because if you worked for me, I would like, double my weight, and I'd have no problem with that because I'd be in this constant state of mouth-gasm."  
Alma let out a snort of laughter. "I think the wine is starting to make you say funny things, Miss Melody."  
"That's how ya know it's workin', Alms."  
"You're a lot of fun. Not like Miss Mattie, so serious all the time."  
Melody finished off the bottle and chucked it in the trash, staggering a bit as she walked back across the room. "Okay, like, I feel super bad for saying this, since Mattie's letting me crash here and all, but she can be so bossy, it seems like. How do you deal with that?"  
Alma shrugged. "I have two daughters that need clothes and school books. Miss Mattie pays me a lot of money to cook for her and Mr. Rodney. Mostly for Mr. Rodney…"  
"Yeah, I'll bet," said Melody. "And what about him? I bet Mattie doesn't pay Mr. Rodney anything, and yet he still goes along with whatever she says."  
"What man wouldn't? She is so beautiful."  
"He's not too bad to look at, neither. And he's sweet…kind…"  
Alma gasped, looking up at Melody with wide, round eyes. "Do you like Mr. Rodney?"  
"Yes," Melody admitted.  
"Ooh, do you think he's sexy?"  
"Okay, now the wine's starting to go to your head. But…it's true." Melody sighed. "I know he's my sister's boyfriend, so I can't." Even if she, y'know, already had. "But she doesn't know how lucky she is to have him."  
That guilty feeling was starting to creep up on her again when Mattie's shout came from the other room. "ALMA, CAN YOU GET IN HERE?"  
"Coming, Miss Mattie!" Alma put on her best sober face and made haste to the dining room, and Melody followed along behind her because--well, she didn't know. She'd been drinking, her wits weren't about her, and she wasn't keen on being left alone.  
Rodney was leaned back in his chair, rubbing his belly and breathing shallow, the buttons of his shirt under obvious strain. Melody's face reddened several shades. He looked so sweet, all full and sedate. There was nothing she wanted more than to take him to bed and take over on belly-rubbing duty until he was soothed enough to fuck her brains out…  
And it was that fantasy that made her cream her panties right in the middle of the goddamn dining room--thank God her pants were black.   
And then there was Mattie, sitting pristine and commanding, with marching orders prepared. "Alma, we want dessert. I'm in the mood to be surprised, so get creative, and there'll be a nice bonus in it for you!"  
"Right away, Miss Mattie."  
"And Melody, hello! Do you want the rest of my salad? I don't think I could eat another bite."  
"I'm…I'm good, thanks," Melody muttered.  
"Oof, Mattie," Rodney started, "I think I need a little break. Do you think we can just lie down for a minute?"  
"Nonsense, I know you can make some room."  
"Whoa there, Mattie, careful. Don't want to make him sick. Kind of counter-productive, if you ask me," Melody blurted out.  
Mattie turned her gaze ever so slightly in her sister's direction. "Rod, Alma, I'm going to have a word with my sister in the other room, if that would be alright."  
In her drunken daze, Melody followed Mattie into the foyer. She didn't feel like she was under the same spell under which everyone else in the house had fallen--she wasn’t compelled or obligated by Mattie’s orders, even though Mattie had the power to kick her out on a whim. Rather, she was just curious to see where this was all going.  
Blame it on the alcohol.   
Mattie put an arm around Melody's shoulders and pulled her close. "Mel, Mel, Mel. My sweet little Mel. My precious baby sister."  
"Mattie, I'm two years older than you."  
"Funny, it doesn't feel that way." Mattie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and turned to face Melody with a big, perfect smile. "Listen, Mel, there's something I feel we should talk about. Now, as you probably guessed, Rodney and I share an…unusual relationship."  
Melody's shoulders relaxed slightly. For a fraction of a second, she'd expected Mattie to call her out for sleeping with him.  
"Mattie, I know all about feederism. I'm in the community."  
"I know. You use your real face as your avatar on your weblog.  
Melody's jaw went slack.  
"I may not be very vocal about my sexual interests…you know what I do for a living. Imagine if this got out! But I do lurk around the Internet from time to time," said Mattie. "For the record, I used to read your posts.” She began to recite: “Fantasy of the day: a cute chubby guy walks into my work, orders two entrees and completely overdoes it. By closing time he’s leaning back on his barstool, stuffed to capacity, and I offer to walk him back to his car…”  
“Okay, Mattie, I get the picture, you’ve been to my website.”  
“You posted a lot about your ex, too. Me and Chad went to a restaurant today, but his arm was broke so he was having trouble with dessert. It would have been the perfect opportunity to spoon feed him, but instead I just held the ice cream bowl down on the table so it wouldn’t flip over every time he went to take a bite--”  
“Mattie, please--”   
“Chad convinced me to try smoking weed today. I freaked out and started getting paranoid, so he had to hold me until I felt better. I could tell he thought I was lame, but he was there for me, and that’s what matters. His body is so soft and lovely against mine--”  
“Mattie, this is excruciating!”   
“Chad threw a book at me today. It’s no big deal, he’s in a bad place right now and I just wish there was something I could do to make him feel better...you know, I never liked the guy. I knew all along he was using you. In fact, a lot of those anonymous messages you got warning you about him? Those were actually from me. But you were a sucker in love, I knew you were going to have to learn the hard way. Still, I was looking out for you. You have to know, Melody, that no one will ever look out for you the way I do. It's just my nature."  
Despite Mattie’s insistence, Melody didn’t feel grateful at all. She just felt violated.   
"Anyway, knowing what you know about this fetish, I assume you know that some couples have a certain…shall we say, dynamic? I know it looks like I push Rod pretty hard to gain for me. But that's just the way we work. And I feel like our living arrangement would work out a lot more smoothly if you would mind your own business."  
Melody didn't realize that her jaw was clenched until after Mattie was finished speaking. A wave of defiance washed over her unexpectedly, and she said, "It's only until I get approved for my own lease."  
Jesus, what had gotten into her?  
Mattie led the way back into the dining room. She popped open the kitchen door and said, "Alma, you can leave dessert on a tray outside the master suite. Knock when you arrive, but don't stick around; Rod and I will require our privacy. That's all."  
And then, Melody was left alone to find her way to the guest room.  
***  
"What is taking Alma so long?" Mattie snapped as she led Rodney into the bedroom. She threw him onto the bed, to his discomfort, and started kissing him. He wished she would let up; he was almost too stuffed to move and thought, if he could just have a nap…  
But then he began to imagine Melody in Mattie's place and found a spot of reprieve.  
Mattie got out of bed all of the sudden and pulled him up with her. She dragged him into the bathroom, where the harsh light made him squint. "Baby, get on the scale," she said.  
"Mattie, do we have to do this ton--"  
"GET ON THE SCALE!"  
He bit his tongue and stepped on.  
"287," Mattie read. "Baby, you're two pounds down."  
"I'm sorry," he began, but it was too late. The look of disappointment was set in stone on Mattie's face. "I told you before I went out of town, I wanted to come back to even more to love…" She smirked and gave his side a little squeeze, leaned in…but then, she abruptly turned around with arms crossed. "But you've been slacking off. I guess if I want anything done around here, I have to do it myself…"  
Working quick-paced, she pulled a few lengths of rope out of the closet, shoved him back into bed and tied his wrists to the bars of the headboard. He struggled against the bonds--"Mattie, can we please just take it easy--?"  
"SHUT UP!"  
Right at that moment came Alma's knock at the door. Mattie cracked it open just wide enough to bring dessert in, but not wide enough to let her employee catch a glimpse of what was going on. She walked back over to the bed and straddled Rodney's waist, a heaping banana split sundae in hand.  
He knew he wasn't going anywhere until that entire bowl was empty.  
He knew things would go on like this until she was happy with his progress.  
And he knew he had to get out of this fucked-up situation somehow, but that was difficult when it was Mattie's name on the lease.  
"Open wide, sweetheart," she said, and stuck in a spoon.  
***  
When Mattie awoke, Rodney was lounging around on the other side of the bed, just getting off the phone. "Who was that?" she asked, suspicion evident in her tone.  
"My boss. My office building has a termite problem, so I'm going to be working from home for a few days while the bug guys deal with it."   
"Oh, that's wonderful, darling! That gives us so much more time to work towards your goal…"  
Breakfast in bed was cinnamon rolls with extra icing, courtesy of Alma's culinary talent.  
And to think, he used to take pleasure in overeating, thinking he'd found a girl who'd allow him to do it on his own terms.  
And even as Mattie pushed him to soldier through each bite, the thought occurred to him that he'd gladly lay here and eat for Melody’s pleasure. Melody would have let him stop, though.   
Fortunately, Mattie had a photoshoot, so she wasn't around for much longer.  
***  
When Rodney wandered into the kitchen, Melody was hanging around at the breakfast nook, just getting off the phone on the wall. "What's up?" he asked as he passed her on his way to the freezer.  
"Not much. I was just talking to my new landlord--I got approved for a lease!" She got up out of her seat as he filled up a glass of ice, her service industry instincts kicking in. "Want anything? Can I pour you a drink?"  
"Oh, I was just getting some water. Thanks, though."  
"Suit yourself." She took a sip from a wine glass he hadn't noticed in her hand until that moment.  
"Starting early, eh?"  
"I figure, I got an apartment. That calls for celebration. And it's not like I have to work today until five…"  
"And who am I to leave you to drink alone?"  
"Have at it. Just don’t get too drunk for work.”  
“Oh, I don’t have to go in today,” said Rodney. “The bug man’s coming into the office. Just to clarify, this is the man who sprays for bugs occupationally; he’s not half man, half bug or anything.” Despite the troubles on her mind, that got a laugh out of her.   
After yesterday's tense conversation with Mattie, she knew she needed to tread with caution. There was a darker side to her sister than she ever would have thought met the eye. She was coming to regret seeking out her help, and she knew getting up to no good with Rodney would only further complicate the matter.  
But then there was that tug of resent in her mind. Mattie had pulled her away from the rest of the household like a miscreant bar guest who'd had far too many--granted, she might have had a few too many, but Mattie had crossed the line in humiliating her like that. Then, she'd taken it further by admitting to stalking her on the Internet, and as her grand finish, waved her superiority complex in her face like a college boy sending dick pics. It was the kind of thing that made a girl want to sleep with her sister's boyfriend again.  
And once he made that cute little joke, all her resolve went out the window.   
So, when he reached for the Belvedere, poured himself a shot, and teased, "You're such a bad influence, Melody Lam," she raised no protest.  
She knew where this was going, and her qualms were melting away.  
“Before we start partying too hard,” he interrupted, “I do have to do one thing for work, but it’s no problem, I can do it from home.”   
She finished off the rest of her wine and almost said, How about you do THIS one thing, huh?  
Instead, she went with, "What do you have to do?"  
"Just put together a report on the glitches our system has been experiencing lately to hand off to software development."  
"Ooh. Computery," she said. "You know, you don't really have to write that report right away."  
"And you don't really have to move out. You could bring your stuff in from the van…stay a while…"  
She converged on him, yanked the vodka off the counter, and took a swig out of the bottle. "Don't tempt me, Rodney."  
"And why not?"  
"Because." She refilled his shot glass and said, "I'll just succumb."  
He took some of the shot and she took what remained, and five minutes later found them in bed, in their underwear, in the master suite of a penthouse that very much had Mattie's name on the lease, but that didn't stop them from needing each other. "Oh my God, Rodney, I've been wanting you every second of every day since I first got here, you're so damn pretty and I just need you all the time!" Melody whispered into his ear as she pressed into him from on top, relishing the feeling of his body underneath her. He was so warm and soft, and she had to spread her legs as far as they would go just to get them around his waist. Somehow, that turned her on more than she already was in the first place.  
"Mel--OOF--sorry, can you ease up a bit? I kind of had a big breakfast and--"  
"No worries, so sorry!" Immediately, she sat up, taking the pressure off of his stomach while continuing to grind against his erection through his shorts. "Better?"  
"Perfect, baby."  
She placed her hands gently on his belly and began to rub it in feather-light circles.  
"Mmh, Melody, that feels so nice."  
For a moment, her mind went to this forbidden, taboo place as she envisioned where that big breakfast was going to end up on his delightfully heavy frame.  
It occurred to her that she'd never quite liked the sound of her own name until she heard him say it.  
"Are you feeling up for sex, or do you need some downtime?" she asked.  
"I'd love to have you, baby…but…can I be on top?"  
"Please!"  
He turned her over in one smooth motion, tracked down a condom, rid them both of the remainder of their clothes, and eased his way in. It was bliss, having him inside of her, on top of her, surrounding her and pinning her down. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung, craving, needy…  
But there was a sliver of doubt prodding in the back of her mind, a small anxious voice tormenting her. She pushed him up by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Rodney, listen to me."  
"What is it, Mel?"  
"I am seriously attracted to you. Like, this is surreal, I feel like we're two magnets, and I've never felt this drawn to anybody before. I just need to know…"  
"Mel…?"  
Melody glanced toward the wall. "It's just that…I know I look like Mattie, and hell, I have the same fetish as Mattie. I need to know that when you're here with me, you're here with Melody. I want to make sure you like me for me, and not just as a substitute for Mattie when she's out of the house."   
"You are nothing like Mattie," said Rodney, and about then is when Melody noticed the rope burns around his wrists.  
"Oh my God…" She ran a fingertip along one of his wrists and asked, "Was this Mattie?"  
"Ding ding ding! What've we got for her, Johnny?" He tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.  
"She's rough with you, she's forceful?" She guessed that vaguely last night, after Mattie confronted her, but the picture was becoming clearer and clearer, and it wasn't a pretty one.  
"She expects progress."  
"But you're not into it."  
"Nevermind what I want."  
"Rod, you have to get out of here."  
"Where would I go? Mattie's name is on the lease."  
"Um, hello. I just got a lease."  
"But I couldn't impose.”  
"Or," she suggested, "you don't want to move in with me and then end up with another Mattie Lam on your hands."  
He didn't say anything, but it was obvious the thought had crossed his mind.  
"Look, I get it. But you said it yourself, I'm not like Mattie.” She sat up in bed and curled against him, looking up at him over her shoulder as her hand closed around his. “You can trust me. I’m not trying to hold you hostage, here. I just really like you, and I want to help you out.”  
“I know,” he said. “I’ve just had a rough few months.”  
“And it’s over, as of today. Go finish up your report, and then pack your essentials and put them in my van. Come to the bar with me tonight. I’ll fix you a couple drinks on the house, and you can crash at mine for a few days until you find an apartment. Deal?”   
"...Okay. Melody?"  
"Yes, Rod?"  
"I really like you, too."


	3. Chapter 3

“So, what’re you drinking?” Melody asked. She clocked in behind the bar as Rodney helped himself to a seat. 

“There’s something I have to do first, Mel. Can I use the phone here?” When she passed him the cordless receiver, he dialed Mattie and waited for her to pick up. Melody could see where this was going. Ordinarily, she wasn’t a huge fan of the over-the-phone breakup, but in this case, she couldn’t blame him. Mattie tied him up against his will when they were at what was presumably a good place in their relationship. Imagine what she’d do to him when he broke it off? Best that she wasn’t around to retaliate when she received the news. 

“Ooh, put her on speaker!” said Melody. 

Mattie answered the phone after one ring. “Hello?"

"Mattie, it's me." 

"Darling, how delightful to hear from you! I hope you’re calling to tell me the numbers are looking good. Anyway, I’ll see for myself when I get home, I’m driving back from work right now.”

“Great, I won’t be there,” said Rodney. “I’m moving out. You and I are over.” 

“WHAT?” Mattie shrieked. “How can you do this? After all I’ve done for you! And over the phone?” 

“Jesus, Mattie, do you listen to yourself talk sometimes? You’re crazy!”

“I’m crazy?”

“Yes. You’re demanding and controlling and crazy, and I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. But it’s pretty obvious to me now that I’ve got someone else.” 

For a second, Mattie didn’t speak, but Melody could hear her breathing over the phone. She imagined Mattie’s jaw clenched, nostrils flaring, a vein throbbing in her temple. 

“What do you mean there’s someone else? What other woman in her right mind--?” 

Rodney hung up the phone. “We don’t need to hear that.” 

“She’s always been a piece of work,” said Melody, “but damn.” 

The bar was slow as the shift wore on. Melody had a few guests; a small handful of businessmen from out of town dining alone and one couple who were just stopping for a cocktail on their way to dinner at another restaurant. Mostly she made drinks at the well for the servers’ tables. It wasn’t exciting work, but she still had a bit of a buzz from earlier to keep her going, and in the meantime, she poured Rodney shots of rum and flirted with him across the bar. 

“Man, we’re going to have such an epic sleepover!” she gushed. 

“Do we need anything from the store after you get off? Any booze?” 

“We’re good on booze, I nabbed what was left of Mattie’s vodka before I left her apartment,” Melody confessed. “We just need condoms.” 

“That’ll be nice,” he said, “getting to finish up what we started this morning.” 

“And with no more Mattie to worry about.”

“Aw, yeah, Mel, I love it when you talk all sexy,” he joked.

“Mattie’s gone,” Mel re-iterated. “Mattie’s out of the picture! She can never make you do anything you don’t want to again!” 

“Man, that feels good to hear out loud!” 

While nothing noteworthy was happening at the bar, Melody soon received a startle in the form of a phone call from Alma. The two of them had exchanged numbers at Mattie’s apartment, Melody having to use her work number because she didn't yet have her own landline, and they had tentative plans to go out and grab a drink together sometime, but judging by the timing, Melody didn’t think this was a social call. 

She turned to her barback and said, “Hang on, it’s my friend. I should take this. Keep an eye on the bar for a minute?” With that, she ducked into the kitchen, receiver in hand.

Alma was hysterical on the other end of the line. “Miss Melody, your sister has lost her mind! She was yelling and screaming, throwing things all over the house--!” 

“Hang on. Alma, slow down! Are you still at the apartment?”

“No, I left before she could throw a chair and hit me in the head.” 

“Listen, it sounds like you’re having a really stressful day. Tell you what, why don’t you come to Patricia’s Restaurant and Bar, it’s on the corner of Main and Maxwell. That’s where I work. I’ll pour you a couple drinks, on the house, and you can tell me all about it.” 

When Alma arrived, business was still slow, and Melody was holding hands with Rodney across the bar, exchanging sweet nothings in hushed voices. Alma’s eyes went wide. “Oh...no wonder Miss Mattie was so angry,” she said. “But good for you two lovebirds! Miss Melody is very nice girl, Mr. Rodney. She’ll make you a happy man.” She turned to Melody and said, “Miss Melody, what kind of wine is good here?” 

“Here, girl, I’ll take care of you. Try this,” she said, and poured Alma a glass of the pricier cabernet. 

It was then that Melody received another phone call--this time from Mattie. She let it go to voicemail, but then Mattie called again, and again, and by that third call, Melody was getting to think that if she didn’t pick up, it would just make her look suspicious. So she ducked back into the kitchen and picked up. “Hey Mattie, I’ve already taken a lot of personal calls on the work phone, so I gotta make this quick. But what’s up? Did I forget something at your place?”

“No, but you did manage to drink me out of house and home!”

“Hehe...sorry about that, Mattie, guess I got a little carried away.”

“Anyway, you’ll never believe what happened! Rodney’s been cheating on me with some skank, and he just told me he was leaving me for her! Over the phone!” 

“Wow...Mattie, that’s such a shocker,” said Melody, trying her best not to give anything away with her voice. “He seemed like such a good guy when I met him.”

“Yeah, well, I need a stiff drink, so I’m on my way into your work.” 

“Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mattie. We’re crazy busy, there’s barely any room to move around in the restaurant…”

“Whatever, I’ve already called my valet. See you in a bit. I want a double Belvedere on the rocks, have it ready for me. That’s all.” 

When Mattie hung up, Melody’s blood began to boil. The nerve of her! Who was she to give Melody orders, or to control everybody else in her life like they were her property? She did it to Rodney, to Alma… That spoiled, entitled bitch! Well, enough was enough. When Melody took her place back behind the bar, she was ready for a fight. 

Her general manager chose that moment to head on out through the back. “Hey Melody, I’m going to make a bank run. Hold down the fort while I’m gone, would you?” he said as he passed her. 

Oh, I’ll hold something down alright, she thought to herself. I’ll hold my sister down on the filthy bar-room floor by her throat.

“Are you okay, Miss Melody?” asked Alma. “You look so tense.” 

“I’m fine,” said Melody. “It’s just that Mattie’s on her way here.” She looked from Rodney to Alma and said, “You two probably don’t want to see her right now, so feel free to go sit out on the patio. I can deal with her alone.” 

“I’m sure you can hold your own, Mel,” said Rodney, “but I’m not going to abandon you like that.” 

A small blush rose in Melody’s cheeks. “Rod, that’s...that’s so sweet of you...Alma?”

“No way, chica. You and I are friends, and I’m staying right here!” 

“You liar!” Mattie snapped as she walked up to the bar. 

“Hey, I guess the crowd thinned out,” said Melody, but she knew Mattie’s glaring rage wasn’t about her lying about how busy the bar had been. It was about Rodney, sitting across from Melody and gazing into her eyes with a promise in his own. 

He may not have had his tongue down her throat, but Mattie got the picture pretty quickly. 

“And what are you doing here? You know what, don’t answer that, I don’t care,” Mattie growled at Alma before rounding on Melody again. “I let you into my house and you steal my boyfriend. Bravo, Melody. Sister of the year right there.” 

“I stole him? You’re talking about him like he’s a thing in a store. If that’s the way you treat your man, it isn’t a wonder he chose me.” 

“Why, you little--! Do you know, why I let you crash at my penthouse in the first place? Why I let you mooch off of me, eat my food and drink my liquor? Because I thought meeting you might make Rodney realize how lucky he was to have me, instead of a girl more like my ugly, nobody, loser sister!” 

Melody smirked. “Well, I may not be a supermodel, but pretty won’t keep your bed warm at night--not with that attitude, at least.”

And that was when Mattie went in for the attack.  
Melody had never pegged her sister of a woman of significant upper body strength. But just as panicked mothers could show explosive feats of strength to lift automobiles off of their trapped babies, Mattie could pack quite a punch when fueled by rage. She grabbed Melody by the collar of her button-down and dragged her out from behind the bar. They both toppled over, Melody somersaulting over the bar top and landing on her back on the ground. She hit the back of her head pretty hard, but she was still conscious. 

Pandemonium ensued when a passing barback tripped over one of her splayed limbs. He fell forward into a waiter holding a tray of drinks, which spilled onto a lady who was on her way into the restroom, who smacked the waiter and let off a few choice swear words while trying to sweep some clinging ice slivers off of her dripping dress. It might have escalated into a full-on bar brawl if there’d been more patrons to knock into. 

Meanwhile, Mattie had landed on the floor as well, but she stood up and was on her way to deal another blow, when Rodney helped Melody to her feet and Alma stood between the two women. “I think you should leave the restaurant,” she said, but Mattie grabbed her with both hands and threw her aside. 

“You're on my payroll, bitch! Don’t you dare tell me what to do! And you!” She pointed a finger right in Rodney’s face, but before she could say another word to him, Melody clocked her square in the jaw. When Mattie kept coming at her, Melody hit her two more times. 

“Yeah, how about that! You want those shots chilled and dressed, you cunt?” 

After that last hit, Mattie was too disoriented to keep fighting back. As she recovered from the blow and struggled to regain her balance, Melody took both her arms and pinned them behind her back. “Security!” she shouted, and a couple of bouncers rushed over to forcibly remove Mattie from the establishment. 

As they were taking her off Melody’s hands, she spat on the ground between Melody’s feet. 

“Classy,” said Melody with a smirk. She could taste blood in the back of her throat, but she’d be willing to wager Mattie was tasting it twice as bad. “You know, I don’t know what your deal is with force and control, but you seriously need to seek some professional psychiatric help.”

“This isn’t over, you fat skank!” Mattie shouted as the bouncers dragged her away. 

Melody chuckled under her breath and glanced at Rodney. “Just to clarify, was she trying to insult me or compliment me?” 

She’d never felt more superior to her sister. At the end of the day, perfect, successful Mattie, who had it all, was nothing but a tantrum-throwing, psychopathic woman-child who lashed out in anger when things didn’t go her way. Melody almost pitied her.   
“Okay, that was pretty badass,” said Rodney, “and I could tell you had things under control...but seriously, where the fuck is your manager?”


	4. Chapter 4

“Let’s go in here! Two dollar well shots all night, that’s a real steal!”

Chad and his friends were bar-hopping, trying to pick up women. His group was down to the last few stragglers--most of his buddies had found someone to take home, but he had yet to find a girl who struck his interest. He was holding out for a girl who was hotter than Melody, and while she’d been clingy and needy, she was pretty damn hot, so he was finding it hard to top her. 

Just his luck, one of his buddies wanted to check out the restaurant where Melody worked. “Nah, I know this place. Trust me, there’s nothing to see here.” 

It wasn’t that he was embarrassed to be seen by Melody--in fact, he’d bet she should be more embarrassed to be seen by him. She was probably drunk off her ass behind the bar, holding back tears and wallowing in misery and drama. He was just pretty tipsy, and if he went in and got drunker, there was a chance he’d lose his better judgment and hook up with her, and the last thing he needed was a migraine named Melody Lam back in his life. 

“Nothing to see, huh?” said his friend Dave, and the next thing he knew, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen got thrown out of the bar and practically into his arms. 

She was stunning. Slim, blonde, and six-foot-and-change in her high heels. She had tits like BAM, an ass like WOW, and two black eyes like--oh god, both of her eyes were blacked. How had he missed that? 

But apart from that, she was a total knockout, and hey, the swelling had to go down sometime, right? 

“Are you okay, Miss?” 

He hadn’t expected a second glance from her. He knew he was a big dude, and he lacked any obvious signs of wealth or power, so girls like this one didn’t exactly flock to his side. But to his surprise, she gave him an obvious once-over, cracked a small smile that seemed to say, I like what I see, and said, “I’m feeling a little better now, actually.” 

His cock jumped to half-mast against the inside of his slacks. 

“Well, don’t just stand there staring. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

"Chad Cunningham, pleasure to meet you."

"Wait...I know that name. Oh, I know all about you," she said. 

“Do you really, Miss…?” 

"Mattie Lam."

“As in Melody Lam?Are you two--?” 

“Sisters?” Mattie laughed. “I have this working theory that she was adopted, but yes.” 

Holy crap. Melody had mentioned a sister, but Chad had never imagined she’d be so insanely hot! 

“I’ll bet Melody filled your head with all kinds of bad stories about me,” he said. 

Hopefully, Mattie wasn’t a good listener. 

“My sister and I aren’t on good terms right now. I’m disinclined to set much store by her opinion.”

“Is that so?”

“Who do you think did this to my face?” 

That came as a shocker. Chad knew Melody could be dramatic, but he’d never imagined she was the violent type. 

“She was probably just jealous,” said Chad. He got the sense that Mattie could be into him, but a little flattery never hurt.

“Well, aren’t you sweet?” She flashed a smile in earnest. “Do you want to get a drink?” 

She called them a cab and took him to a restaurant on the other side of town where each square of tile probably cost more than his entire rent. They got a back booth and she ordered him a white Russian and a mid-rare New York strip, and a double shot of top-shelf vodka for herself. 

“This is good,” he said. “I’m usually more of an IPA man, but I’ll drink this.” 

“I think you’ll find, Chad, that I’m a woman of excellent taste.”

“So how do you afford all this, anyway?”

“I work as a model for several high-profile fashion designers. Of course, I’ll have to take some time off work due to the state of my face, but it is what it is.” 

Wow. A model. He could see why Melody had never introduced the pair of them; if he’d met Mattie before now he’d have run off with her years ago! 

A part of him wanted to ask what exactly she and Melody had been fighting about at the bar, but he was trying to get laid. He didn’t think he’d be helping his chances by bringing up uncomfortable subject matter, so he put his curiosity aside. 

Dinner came, and it was delicious. “Aren’t you having anything?” he asked. 

“No, that’s quite alright. I might just have some of yours,” she said, but she didn’t have any, so when the perky serving girl returned to their table to check on them, he asked for a box. 

“Fine. Whatever. And the check,” said Mattie, seeming suddenly irate. 

“What? All I said was, can I get a box.”

“It’s fine. It’s nothing,” said Mattie, but it didn’t sound like nothing. 

Well, that was kind of weird. Chad wondered what was up with her...but as they left the restaurant, she called a cab to take them both to her place, and he decided it wasn’t worth much thought. He was about to get laid by a model! 

***

The commotion at Patricia’s had already long-since wound down by the time Melody’s manager appeared out of the blue. “Hey, Mels, I just got off the phone with a regular, said somebody attacked you behind the bar tonight,” he said. For a second, Rodney was worried that she would get in trouble for fighting back, but her boss seemed to be on her side--this must be the manager she’d been telling him about, who had a crush on her. “Heard you got a couple of good swings in, but everyone saw the other girl start it. If you want the rest of the night off to recover, me and the servers can handle it from here.” 

“Thanks, Rick. See you same time tomorrow!” said Melody, and she began collecting her credit card receipts and entering her tips. 

“Are you alright?” asked Rodney. “You took a pretty bad fall.” 

Melody waited until Rick had left her side and said, “I’m fine...I’ve been anesthetizing myself.” She drained the last few drops from a water bottle that he assumed didn’t contain water. “I do need you to do something for me, though.” She fished her keys out of her apron pocket, slid them across the bar, and said, “Drive the van.”

Soon, they were on the road, Melody leaned against the passenger’s side window and breathing deep with her eyes closed. She hadn’t shown it at the bar, but that fight had taken a fair bit out of her. 

He knew what might cheer her up, though. “Hey Mel, do you want to stop for any takeout?”

She cracked one eye open and stared at him. “We were literally just at the restaurant. If you wanted anything to eat, you should have said something then! I get fifty percent off.” 

“Gosh, Melody, I was just trying to turn you on.” 

They both chuckled a bit, and then returned to silence. Rodney turned the radio on, but Melody turned it down. “Listen, Rod,” she began, “we should talk about something.”

“Whatever it is, we can talk about it when you’re feeling better.”

“No, I want to talk about it now,” she said, so he yielded the floor to her. “I know we talked about me having a feeder kink, but you don’t have to put on any weight for me to make me happy. In fact, if you decided you wanted to lose any, I wouldn’t complain. It’s your body.” 

Rodney smiled behind the wheel. “That’s sweet of you, Mel. But I’m not all too concerned about undoing Mattie’s work or anything. I’ve been into gaining since way before I met her. She just pushed me too hard. Took something that was supposed to be an act of pleasure and turned it into this obligation...with consequences and all.” 

“You never have to worry about that with me,” she said. “You can set the limits, and I promise I’ll abide by them. In fact, we should have a safe word.” 

“How about, ‘nonsense’?”

“Why ‘nonsense’?” 

Honestly, it was because that was what Mattie would say whenever Rodney told her he couldn’t do something she’d asked. Nonsense! She would laugh, and then make him do it anyway. He was certain that being reminded of Mattie would instantly kill any sexual scene. 

But he’d explain it to Melody when she was sober. 

“I don’t know,” he said, “I just like it.”

“Well then, I like it, too. You know...I wish we’d met a lot sooner,” she said. “If you like Chinese, by the way, there’s a place open late at the next left.” 

She passed out in the car on the way to the restaurant. 

***

Melody’s apartment had one bedroom, two bathrooms, a spacious kitchen, and absolutely no furniture. “I guess I should have thought of that before I invited you over,” she said with a sheepish grin as they walked inside. 

“We’ll make do.” Rodney helped Melody carry up a box of bedding, and they laid a pile of comforters in the corner of the bedroom to make themselves comfortable, but otherwise, they decided to save the rest of the unpacking for tomorrow. Then, they cracked open the box of takeout. Melody sat flush against Rodney in their little blanket nest and fed him off of wooden take-out chopsticks, having a bite here and there herself, until he raised protest. 

“I’m getting pretty full,” he admitted. “This is delicious, but I don’t think I could finish another bite.” 

“Then we can do other things,” said Melody. She set the box of takeout aside and pressed herself flush against his side, rubbing his belly and squeezing his love handles intermittently. He was turned on, make no doubt, but in the end he was deliciously, satisfyingly, scandalously full--and unfortunately, too full for sex. “In the morning, Mel?” he proposed. 

“I’d wait an eternity for you,” she slurred. “For now, I’m just happy to have your lovely body next to mine.”

With that, she passed out drunk once more. He held her until he was out cold as well. 

***

Mattie wasn’t quite sure what her next move would be after she was ejected from the bar. She was thinking of going home, calling her attorney and suing the pants off of Melody...but anything she could squeeze out of her sister would be pocket change to her. 

Then, Melody’s ex turned up, and she thought, here’s a fun little game I can play… 

The evening hadn’t exactly gone perfect by Mattie’s standards, but she could see why Melody had kept him around so long. The kid really was pretty in the face department--psh, kid, he probably had a few to several years on Mattie, but everybody seemed like a kid to her from where she stood on her pedestal. Blond hair, blue eyes, irresistibly carefree smirk...some nice meat on his bones, too, although he could do with some more, maybe a hundred pounds more? But it was a start. 

She paid the cabbie and they took the elevator up to the top floor of her building. “Here we are, home sweet home,” she said, leading the way into her lavish suite with Chad just a footfall behind. Her cleaning staff had straightened up in the hours since she trashed the place, and it was obvious by the way Chad was looking around that he’d never seen this much wealth and luxury all at once. She held up his box from the restaurant. “Do you want to finish this off?” 

“Nah, you can put it in the fridge.” 

She decided she would let him off easy this time. 

If Rodney had ever dared to ask a waitress for a box, he’d have spent the rest of the evening cleaning out that box and the fridge. 

But Chad didn’t know the rules yet. He’d learn. 

And maybe a challenge was exactly what she needed to get her head back in the game after that humiliating incident with her sister in the bar. 

“I’m going to bed,” she said, leading the way up to the master suite. When she crawled underneath the duvet, he tried to turn her on her back and make a move, but she rolled over on her stomach and denied him. “I’m sorry, hun, the vodka’s just gone straight to my head tonight. I really need to crash. Tomorrow, tomorrow.” 

In the morning, she was much more receptive to his advances--but only after he’d finished all of his breakfast, served in bed the minute he awoke. Classical conditioning had worked for Pavlov, and it could work for Mattie, too. Alma hadn’t shown up for work, but last night’s leftovers topped off with fast-food breakfast sandwiches hand-delivered by some underpaid college kid with a restaurant delivery app worked just as well. She let him kiss her deep and explore her body with his hands for a few minutes before she interrupted: “Baby, aren’t you forgetting something?” 

“What’s that, Mattie?” His words sounded like a plea. After having to hold back last night, she’d bet he’d be willing to do anything for a piece of her. 

“You haven’t even touched your dessert…” She shifted in bed, spread her legs, and pushed his head southward. 

***

Mattie had to admit, there was a part of her that thought it was too soon to take on a new project after Rodney left her. She felt uncentered; her head was in a weird place. Nobody had ever left her before. She wasn’t used to losing. Until now, she had always been in control of the world around her. 

And how was she supposed to bring someone else under her control when she felt so out of control herself? 

But after that first night with Chad, she couldn’t resist finishing what she’d started. Really, his fate had been sealed from the moment he started talking to her. You see, Mattie Lam was no quitter. 

She started making frequent stops by the country club where he worked as a waiter. She’d hang around at one of his tables until close, drinking vodka and playfully distracting him from his nightly cleaning duties. More often than not, he came home with her and spent the night. She always had some sort of fattening treat ready for him at the penthouse, and rewarded him with sexual pleasure when, and only when, he’d finish it off. In the morning, she’d take him out to a huge, expensive gourmet breakfast, with a hand between his legs rubbing him to hardness under the table as he ate. She’d have thought that would be enough to condition him...but this kid just did whatever he damn well pleased! 

Him and his to-go boxes! 

And that was the least of her frustrations. Whenever she let him get too comfortable, he would blow her off to stay home, play video games, and smoke pot. She could usually bring him back to her doorstep begging by withholding sex for a few days, but even then, her results weren’t perfect. 

One day, a few months into her endeavor, she went to bed with him and woke up in the morning alone. They had spent the night at his place while her walls were being repainted--and a chair with restraining straps was being delivered; she intended that to be a surprise--so it took her a minute to get her bearings and figure out the layout of his apartment--but not much more than a minute. It was much smaller than the penthouse. She found him in the kitchen in his boxers and T-shirt, just getting off the phone. “Oh, hey Mattie!” He turned to face her, wearing a big smile. “That was my boss. I just quit my job. I figure you must be worth, what, millions?” 

This...could be a step in the right direction! Now that he didn’t have to work, he could spend all day lazing around and eating for Mattie. “Congratulations! I always knew you were too good for that place, anyway,” she said. “We should celebrate! I’ll order in some breakfast tacos. Or do you want pizza? Here, I’ll crack you open a beer.” 

He winced. “Don’t you think that’s a little excessive? We’ve been ordering in a lot lately. And I know you can afford it, but I can stand to lose a few.” 

No, no, no, no! 

“Nonsense!” Mattie said brightly, never letting a break in her composure. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Baby, I don’t mind the extra weight. In fact, I think it’s sexy. I can’t deny how attracted to you I am, Chad, and to tell you the truth, I think you’d be even hotter if you put on some more.” 

He snickered. “You sound like Melody. Must run in the family.”

“Quite possibly,” said Mattie, but she knew her predilections were due to much more than mere genetics. 

Heaven only knew why Melody was a feeder. She really didn’t seem the type to Mattie. She was servile, meek, and unambitious. Mattie had trouble imagining her choosing the restaurant for date night, much less determining someone else’s intake and goal weight. 

Mattie, on the other hand, knew what she was about. All her life, she’d been subject to a strict set of rules regarding diet and exercise. For the sake of her career, she had to remain as thin as possible, and dammit, if she had to be subject to such an intense level of control, then whoever was lucky enough to fall into her orbit as her lover would be, too. She’d make sure of it...but she’d push him to the opposite extreme. Everything the modeling industry did to her, she inverted, intensified, and inflicted on her partners, and it brought her a cathartic sense of justice, a head-rush she found simply addictive. She didn’t have the time for it now, but once she retired, she dreamed of fattening a man to immobility, forcing him to depend on her for his each and every need, and ascending, in that way, to something like godhood. 

“So, tacos, or pizza?” 

“Actually, babe, I have to head out. I told a few guys I was gonna quit my job, and we decided to go play some golf today. I’ll probably be back by the time you get done with your photoshoot, though!” He disappeared into the other room to get dressed, and Mattie’s manicured nails dug crescents into her palms.

***

When Chad returned that evening, it looked like a tornado had blown through his apartment. The living room was a mess of overturned furniture and broken glass. One armchair remained untouched, and in the seat was Mattie, holding a rocks glass full of vodka and smirking, red in the face. 

“You’re home late.”

“Mattie, what the fuck!” 

“I do everything for you, Chad,” she said. “I buy you dinner, I give you pleasure...and you take me for goddamn granted.” She stood up and stumbled forward to set her glass on a shelf he assumed she hadn’t had the strength to topple over. “You did the same thing to my dear sister...now, that, I can understand. She’s no prize. But I really thought things would be different with me.”

She noticed it a second before he did, and his stomach did a backflip. “You would own a gun.” She plucked the pistol off his shelf and took aim at his face. 

Of course he would own a gun; this was a shady neighborhood. But he’d never been legitimately scared for his safety before. He had confidence that he could take pretty much any opponent with his fists alone. But while Mattie might have been a hundred pounds soaking wet, she was armed, and she had him backed into a corner. “C’mon, Mattie, just put the gun down.” 

“Right, and then you go back to not listening to a word I say.” 

He tried to make a swipe for the gun, but that just made her yank it out of his reach and aim at the ground. “Which of your feet do you need less, baby?” she asked. 

So this was a negotiation, now that she’d taken her aim off anything vital. He could buy himself some time if he just went along… “Alright, Mattie, what do you want me to do?”

“My demands are simple, really. Here’s how things are going to work from now on…”

While she was speaking, he took a step backwards towards the door. 

This was the wrong move. 

She fired at his head and missed; the bullet hit the wall. 

“MATTIE, ARE YOU NUTS?” 

“You really want to run away? Fine, then you’re no use to me and I may as well shoot you. I won’t miss this time, baby, promise.”

“Okay, Mattie, just calm down…”

Then, at last, he was saved by the bell. Or, rather, three hard raps at the door. 

“HPD, we’ve received a noise complaint?” 

Of course, Mattie must have caused a ruckus trashing the apartment. 

“SHE’S GOT A GUN!” Chad shouted, and the cops kicked the door off its hinges. 

***

“I think I’ll do the New York strip, but instead of the potatoes and greens I’ll have fries.”

“Ha! You’re just like me. Do you still want the gravy, but on the side?” 

“Sure, and maybe some ranch?”

“Anything for you, sugar.”

It was just another afternoon at the restaurant for Melody, except it wasn’t. 

Two weeks ago, Rick had announced that he was leaving Patricia’s to take a fancy corporate job, and he was leaving Melody at the helm as general manager. She knew he had only decided to leave her in charge because he favored her, but hey, a promotion was a promotion. Last night had been his last shift, and today marked the beginning of Melody’s run in charge of things. She was wearing a smart button-down and khakis instead of her usual black-on-black uniform, and ringing up a customer as a favor to the weeded new bartender. “Oh! I should tell you,” she said, “our kitchen is running a little understaffed today, so there’s about a forty-minute wait for anything off the grill. Would you like an appetizer, or maybe a side salad while you wait?” 

“I guess I’m pretty hungry,” said the man on the other side of the counter. “Give me the calamari first, and I’ll work on that while I wait for the steak.” 

“Excellent choice.” She was taking back the menu when Alma walked in and had herself a seat at the bar. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite lady! What are you drinking? That wine you like?” 

“Oh, you know me so well, Miss Melody.” 

“So, how’s my sister these days?” asked Melody as she grabbed Alma a glass and started pouring, perhaps pouring a little heavy. 

“You think I still work for Miss Mattie?” Alma seemed appalled at the idea. 

“Hey, I mean, you said the money’s good, even if she is a little…”

“Crazy? Crazy I can deal with. But after she hurt you in the bar, never again. We are friends, remember?” 

“That’s right. We’re friends.” Alma drank a bit of her wine, and Melody topped her off. “Are you okay though, financially? I mean, with money?”

“I have other clients. I’m looking for more work, though.” 

“Well, why don’t you work here? We’re running understaffed in the kitchen. Right now I really need someone on grills, but eventually I’d like to move you up the ladder...what do you say?” 

“You’d...you’d really do that for me?” asked Alma. “When can I come and have an interview?” 

“Girl! I’m the boss now. You don’t need to interview, you can start tomorrow. Oh, and by the way...you don’t gotta call me ‘Miss.’” 

Melody was off by 3--it was her only night off this week. She took Alma out for celebratory martinis and made it home in time to start dinner before Rodney returned from work. He never ended up moving out of her apartment; they’d grown too attached and decided in the end that one bed was enough. 

She was making spaghetti and meatballs. She was no Alma in the kitchen, but she was good with her spices and had an excellent memory for others’ preferences. Rodney liked his sauce hearty and his noodles soft. He didn’t like a lot of salt, but she did, so when she was making dinner for the both of them, she’d only lightly salt the communal serving dish and set a shaker on the table. 

She was just putting the finishing touches on the sauce when she received a phone call. Without looking at the number, she picked up. “Melody Lam, who’s this?”  
“This isn’t a truce or anything,” came Mattie’s voice, “but I’ll give you a million dollars if you bail me out of jail.” 

Jesus. 

“What have you done?” 

“One of Chad’s pesky neighbors called the cops and now they think I tried to shoot him.” 

“You tried to shoot him?” 

“No!” Mattie exclaimed. Then, after a small pause, “It was just a warning shot.” 

“Was it, though, really? Or is someone watching you make this call? If you were aiming to kill, say my name.” 

“MELODY, THIS IS SERIOUS!” 

Melody sighed. “Don’t you have people for this kind of thing?”

“My agent doesn’t want to get involved in a scandal.”

“Fine...but I want two million.” 

“Done!”

“I’m fucking with you, Mattie. I don’t want your money. Have fun at county.” 

She was just hanging up when Rodney came home. “Who was that, anyone important?” 

“Nope.” She strained the noodles, plated dinner, and carried it over to the kitchen table. 

“Oh, so I don’t know if you saw the headlines today…” He handed her the paper. 

“Millionaire model arrested for aggravated assault,” she read. Mattie’s picture ran under the headline, and then… “Police investigation uncovered a number of unusual artifacts in the perpetrator’s home, including...oh God…” 

Several large funnels with tubes attached and a chair with built-in restraints. 

“The chair must be new,” said Rodney. 

She walked over to him, put an arm around his shoulders, and squeezed. “Are you okay? I know you’re out of there now...but you were with her for eight months and you left her just a couple months ago…” 

“Don’t worry about it, Melody. As long as you’re here, everything’s okay,” he reassured her. “Anyway, what’s for dinner? That smells delicious!” 

She served them both and they sat down. A few bites into dinner, she set down her fork and let herself sit back to watch him, enraptured with the little noises of pleasure he made when he ate. “Melody, this is amazing,” he said, before looking up to catch her staring. “What are you looking at?”

“Just you,” she giggled. “Hey, tell me something.”   
“What is it?”

“What’s one feedee thing you’ve always wanted to try, but never have?” 

He thought for a moment. “Mattie always called the shots, it was never a matter of what I wanted…” 

“I figured.”

“But I’ve always thought about...no, it’s too dirty.” 

“Tell me!” she insisted. 

“I’ve always wondered about having a girl blow me while I stuff myself.” 

Melody raised her eyebrows and cracked a grin. “Well then, what am I waiting for?” 

She slunk underneath the table, worked his pants off, and took his hard length into her mouth with passion and attention. She sucked him while alternatively fondling his balls and palming his belly, which she felt growing firmer and tighter as the meal went on. Finally, he began to slow up on dinner, just as she thought he was about to blow. 

He reached under the table and pushed her off. “Baby,” he said, “can we finish this in bed?”

“Absolutely.” She shimmied out from under the table and caught a glimpse of his plate as they left for the bedroom. He’d almost cleaned it, and she’d served him a pretty generous portion. Not like she needed him to finish it, anyway--as long as he was contented, then so was she. 

He hiked her legs up behind his elbows and had her as a second course, and afterward, he made love to her until she was a whimpering mess, muttering his name with her legs wrapped tight around his ample waist. He had his release a second after she did and rolled her over on his side to hold her. 

She lay there in his arms for a while, until at last, she asked, “What are you thinking?” 

“I don’t know, In guess I used to think…”

“Go on?”

“I used to think I had to choose between my fetish and having a normal relationship. But this feels pretty normal.” 

“Pretty nice,” she agreed. 

“You’re the sweetest, Mel.”

“You’re the...you’re the…” she began, but it was late, and it was about that time, and not another word was said between the two until morning.


End file.
